Motor Racing: Hill ignores bad weather to scale mountain: Briton makes light of inexperience to beat his Williams team-mate in the race for provisional pole position

IT WAS a day for wise, old heads: Monaco, with all its familiar hazards and foibles, and now a wet track very slowly drying. It was a day, you would have thought, for Alain Prost or Ayrton Senna. Instead, this was Damon Hill's day.

The Englishman, who failed to qualify here last year, in a Brabham, took provisional pole for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, seven-tenths of a second ahead of his Williams-Renault team-mate, Prost, and, by way of gauging his growing self-assurance, welcomed the prospect of a further challenge in a dry second qualifying session tomorrow.

That, of course, would render yesterday's exercise academic and present Prost with another chance to equal Nigel Mansell's landmark of six consecutive poles and Senna the opportunity of elevating himself from fifth place. The break afforded the drivers today should ease the debilitating pain the Brazilian suffered in his left hand as a result of a heavy crash during the unofficial morning session. He ripped the nose and left side off his McLaren-Ford entering the first corner, Ste-Devote.

Hill, too, had his little excursion on a day which inevitably ran up a catalogue of incidents, both sessions being interrupted for the removal of stricken machinery. When it mattered, however, he outpaced and outmanoeuvred the rest. It was as if, far from being intimidated by his father's legacy, he was inspired by it.

The only previous time Hill claimed provisional pole, at Imola last month, he was beaten by Prost the following day. 'At least I have it for 48 hours this time,' he said.

'It was always going to be tricky with a heavy downpour just before the start and during the early part of the session. The laps were going to get quicker towards the end, there was no doubt about that. My plan was to do a time in the first part of the session in the shortest possible number of laps. I did that, but then Alain went quicker.

'It was always going to be a question of timing your last run. At the end I had more laps in the bag so I had the opportunity to get more clear ones. It wasn't so bad when the track was just greasy but in the downpour you had to take big risks. On a day like this you were relieved to get into the dry of the tunnel.'

There was no relief for the others. Hill's late surge took him past Michael Schumacher, who briefly occupied second place with the long-awaited assistance of traction control on his Benetton-Ford, then comfortably clear of Prost.

'It was undoubtedly a help having gone round here last year,' Hill said. 'I felt comfortable, well within myself. But the Williams is such a good car.

'I've probably done the wrong thing by putting my car on pole today and it won't mean a thing if it's dry on Saturday. But I would honestly prefEer it to be dry. I want to see if I can do it again then.'.. TXTHER write error.- Though spectators applauded Hill all the way from the pits to the paddock, only when prompted by his team manager did he look up and wave to them. He remains a relatively shy and unassuming man, in that respect hardly a chip off the old block. But then you have to remind yourself he has had only seven Formula One races.

Schumacher ended the day in third place with Gerhard Berger, in a Ferrari, fourth. Senna wasmerely thankful 'to be in one piece' after his accident. He said: 'I hit a bump at about 170mph and lost control. The car hit the barrier on the left, then the right, then back to the left. It was a big one. I was shaken, in shock. I had to sit down to gather my senses and convince myself I was OK.'

He was still not well enough to give of his best in the rebuilt car and he is likely to be a much more serious threat to Hill tomorrow. Senna has won here five times already - equalling Graham Hill's record - and this could be his best chance of adding to the two victories he has this season.

MONACO GRAND PRIX (Monte Carlo) First qualifying times: 1 D Hill (GB) Williams-Renault 1:38.963 (121.063kph, 75.225mph); 2 A Prost (Fr) Williams-Renault 1:39.649; 3 M Schumacher (Ger) Benetton-Ford 1:40.780; 4 G Berger (Aut) Ferrari 1:40.853; 5 A Senna (Bra) McLaren-Ford 1:42.127; 6 R Patrese (It) Benetton-Ford 1:42.136; 7 J Alesi (Fr) Ferrari 1:42.160; 8 P Alliot (Fr) Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:43.031; 9 M Blundell (GB) Ligier- Renault 1:43.449; 10 C Fittipaldi (Bra) Minardi-Ford 1:43.829; 11 J Herbert (GB) Lotus-Ford 1:43.898; 12 A de Cesaris (It) Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:44.193; 13 R Barrichello (Bra) Jordan-Hart 1:44.310; 14 E Comas (Fr) Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:44.483; 15 F Barbazza (It) Minardi-Ford 1:44.524; 16 D Warwick (GB) Footwork-Mugen Honda 1:44.884; 17 K Wendlinger (Aut) Sauber 1:45.439; 18 T Boutsen (Bel) Jordan-Hart 1:45.512; 19 M Andretti (US) McLaren-Ford 1:45.993; 20 M Brundle (GB) Ligier-Renault 1:46.446; 21 L Badoer (It) Lola BMS-Ferrari 1:46.745; 22 A Zanardi (It) Lotus-Ford 1:46.935; 23 M Alboreto (It) Lola BMS-Ferrari 1:47.082; 24 J J Lehto (Fin) Sauber 1:48.526; 25 U Katayama (Japan) Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:49.210; 26 A Suzuki (Japan) Footwork-Mugen Honda 10:06.384.

(Photograph and map omitted)